Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Forward Air Co. (NASDAQ:FWRD) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,982,873 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 63,322 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Forward Air worth $187,533,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FWRD. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Forward Air by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 15,070 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $947,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Forward Air by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 4,205 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC grew its stake in shares of Forward Air by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 4,639 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 724 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Forward Air in the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Forward Air by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,415 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $340,000 after buying an additional 1,072 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.03% of the company’s stock.

Forward Air Stock Performance

Shares of Forward Air stock opened at $19.34 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.52. Forward Air Co. has a 12 month low of $11.21 and a 12 month high of $121.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $511.35 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

Forward Air (NASDAQ:FWRD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The transportation company reported ($0.64) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by ($0.49). Forward Air had a net margin of 4.08% and a return on equity of 5.37%. The business had revenue of $541.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $644.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Forward Air Co. will post -0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FWRD has been the subject of several analyst reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Forward Air in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Forward Air from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. StockNews.com cut shares of Forward Air from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Forward Air from $24.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Forward Air has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.43.

Forward Air Company Profile

Forward Air Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an asset-light freight and logistics company in the United States and Canada. It operates in two segments, Expedited Freight and Intermodal. The Expedited Freight segment provides expedited regional, inter-regional, and national less-than-truckload services; local pick-up and delivery services; and other services, which include shipment consolidation and deconsolidation, warehousing, customs brokerage, and other handling.